March 16, 2006

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - The East Carolina men's tennis team had a two-match win streak halted when it dropped the doubles point and all but one singles match in a 6-1 non-conference loss against North Florida Thursday afternoon at the UNF Tennis Complex.

With the victory, the Osprey improved to 10-5 while the Pirates fell to 7-9.

Senior Nick Rose snared the lone victory for ECU at the No. 5 spot, posting a 6-4, 6-4 win over Leonardo Gomes.

In other singles action, freshman Aleksey Kochetov fell to Eduardo Pereira (6-1, 7-6) at No. 1, sophomore Henrique Viana took a 6-2, 7-6 loss to Matias Sigal at No. 2 and sophomore Ricardo Barone dropped a 6-3, 6-2 decision to Elad Gabay at No. 3.

Freshman Brian Walters came up short in a tie-breaker (6) after splitting the first two sets (7-6, 4-6) against Sam Withell in a four-seed matchup and freshman Britton Steele was defeated by Glen Marshall (6-4, 6-4) at No. 6.

North Florida used 8-6 and 8-1 doubles triumphs by the tandems of Jose Terrera/Sigal and Gabay/Pereira against Viana/Walters and Rose/Steele, respectively, to open the match with a 1-0 lead. The Pirates' pair of Barone and Kochetov notched ECU's only doubles victory by outlasting Escallon and Gomes by an 8-7 count.

The Pirates will return home to face UNC Greensboro Wednesday, March 22 in a match scheduled to begin at 2:00 p.m.

NORTH FLORIDA 6, EAST CAROLINA 1
Singles Play
No. 1 - Eduardo Pereira (UNF) def. Aleksey Kochetov (ECU); 6-1, 7-6 (6)
No. 2 - Matias Sigal (UNF) def. Henrique Viana (ECU); 6-2, 7-6 (9)
No. 3 - Elad Gabay (UNF) def. Ricardo Barone (ECU); 6-3, 6-2
No. 4 - German Escallon (UNF) def. Brian Walters (ECU); 7-6 (4), 4-6, (6)
No. 5 - Nick Rose (ECU) def. Leonardo Gomes (UNF); 6-4, 6-4
No. 6 - Glen Marshall (UNF) def. Britton Steele (ECU); 6-4, 6-4
Doubles Play
No. 1 - Barone/Kochetov (ECU) def. Escallon/Gomes (UNF); 8-7 (6)
No. 2 - Sigal/Jose Terrera (UNF) def. Viana/Walters (ECU); 8-6
No. 3 - Gabay/Pereira (UNF) def. Rose/Steele (ECU); 8-1
Team Records: East Carolina (7-9), North Florida (10-5)